Sometimes people see "none" for the free option and sometimes they see "free". I assume this is A/B testing, but I cringe every time I see the "none" because we're discouraging people from signing up for free. I'd rather have a free signup than no sign up from that interaction.
I'll definitely put more thought into some of these. I launched my paid subscriptions fairly early but I'm not promoting it. Focusing on growing my free subscriptions and only casually mentioning it. Seems like I'll have to look at this again when I focus on paid subscriptions.
I've been paid since near my original launch. Nothing is behind a paywall, but about 5% of my readers choose to pay to support the project. [1097 readers, 57 subscribers]
I'm coming up on a year in October, and I'm planning to do a "pledge week" around the anniversary to encourage more subscriptions and referrals to friends.
Will do! We already made signing up for a paid subscription an option -- and have been pleasantly surprised by the result. But we haven't done the official launch yet.
$5 is too much! What if I want to subscribe to 20 different newsletters? that's $100 a month. I totally understand the sentiment, but I would have subscribed to more newsletters at a $2-3 price point than I am currently doing. Talk to an economist about price sensitivity!
Substack should allow readers to pay a monthly subscription and give writers the option to get paid out of that subscription. (E.g Skillshare.com, Udemy.com, etc).
I'm just coming out of several entanglements in client work and will be going back to all the substack grow weekly notes. Last week in office hours I realized I'd been "writing my newsletter" instead of "growing my list". Now with less client stuff to do, I can use that time to revisit the Grow tips, and indeed "grow my list" - and develop a subscription strategy that can work for my material and current free subscribers.
So I'm mulling over the questions I have for this last week. I suspect a lot of my questions are going to be answered in this next webinar, but... Here they are:
When we offer "specials" occasionally, does that mean that subscriber will always be paying that price?
Are we able to target certain groups... for instance, I'm thinking that it would be good to offer other Substack newsletter writers a substantial % off. (Honestly, I'm finding so many that I want to follow and support--more than I can afford at the moment :)
I suspect you are going to fully discuss how to target emails--to the 4/5 star folks!
Realizing I should have written this immediately after the session last Wed! I know I had more! but... looking forward to this final week.
I'm impulsive. After just sitting on the track for months I am writing and right now a complex piece. I understand that I have to to prevent spamming go thru my contacts one by one. I will save that for a bit later. I have a yearly and a founder. Friends and isn't this what we are all about. I just suggested to a very disorganized group with famous and respected writers to join. They have spammed us for months for a now past Esalen workshop. I suggested stacks. One is a very respected and needs to get on board. I get spam daily from their mixed up list. I learn by doing. So it may take time and I have faith. Just saw that Willow player is on board. Like me is sick of trolls. Thanks for this resource. One step at a time.
Even if I follow any step, I feel like a student uncertain whether or not asking for paid subscription just to elicit a circle of readers interested in what i am fond of..I have just begun..all right, I am not so deeply inside socials, I use Instag and Twitter sometimes..hate Facebook..so, I d like to import list from readers who are interested in art literature..i tried to build somthing around, however just reading in Substack I had disfficulties in getting the right community..well..
probably I should ..DARE..with free mind and light heart..thanks fot tips..
When I launch paid - Does Substack auto segregate my paid vs free lists? I don't see any details about this in the above post. I will be posting to my free and paid each week, but do not want the paid receiving the free content
If you have a subscriber who sent a pledge and following that you turned on the paid option, does this automatically turn the individual into a paid subscriber or should I give them a comp for a year? How will I receive the pledge? I read all the articles on pledges, but it is still not clear to me.
Sometimes people see "none" for the free option and sometimes they see "free". I assume this is A/B testing, but I cringe every time I see the "none" because we're discouraging people from signing up for free. I'd rather have a free signup than no sign up from that interaction.
100% - that makes so much sense. I would rather have that too.
I've wondered about this...
I'll definitely put more thought into some of these. I launched my paid subscriptions fairly early but I'm not promoting it. Focusing on growing my free subscriptions and only casually mentioning it. Seems like I'll have to look at this again when I focus on paid subscriptions.
I've been paid since near my original launch. Nothing is behind a paywall, but about 5% of my readers choose to pay to support the project. [1097 readers, 57 subscribers]
I'm coming up on a year in October, and I'm planning to do a "pledge week" around the anniversary to encourage more subscriptions and referrals to friends.
Would love to hear what you learn from pledge week in October!
Lots to digest here. We're planning on launching soon, so this will be very helpful.
Let us know how it goes, Michael!
Will do! We already made signing up for a paid subscription an option -- and have been pleasantly surprised by the result. But we haven't done the official launch yet.
$5 is too much! What if I want to subscribe to 20 different newsletters? that's $100 a month. I totally understand the sentiment, but I would have subscribed to more newsletters at a $2-3 price point than I am currently doing. Talk to an economist about price sensitivity!
Substack should allow readers to pay a monthly subscription and give writers the option to get paid out of that subscription. (E.g Skillshare.com, Udemy.com, etc).
https://growjo.com/company/Skillshare
That's a hefty value in some countries
https://keggg.substack.com/?r=tguy8&utm_campaign=pub&utm_medium=web&utm_source=
I'm just coming out of several entanglements in client work and will be going back to all the substack grow weekly notes. Last week in office hours I realized I'd been "writing my newsletter" instead of "growing my list". Now with less client stuff to do, I can use that time to revisit the Grow tips, and indeed "grow my list" - and develop a subscription strategy that can work for my material and current free subscribers.
So I'm mulling over the questions I have for this last week. I suspect a lot of my questions are going to be answered in this next webinar, but... Here they are:
When we offer "specials" occasionally, does that mean that subscriber will always be paying that price?
Are we able to target certain groups... for instance, I'm thinking that it would be good to offer other Substack newsletter writers a substantial % off. (Honestly, I'm finding so many that I want to follow and support--more than I can afford at the moment :)
I suspect you are going to fully discuss how to target emails--to the 4/5 star folks!
Realizing I should have written this immediately after the session last Wed! I know I had more! but... looking forward to this final week.
I'm impulsive. After just sitting on the track for months I am writing and right now a complex piece. I understand that I have to to prevent spamming go thru my contacts one by one. I will save that for a bit later. I have a yearly and a founder. Friends and isn't this what we are all about. I just suggested to a very disorganized group with famous and respected writers to join. They have spammed us for months for a now past Esalen workshop. I suggested stacks. One is a very respected and needs to get on board. I get spam daily from their mixed up list. I learn by doing. So it may take time and I have faith. Just saw that Willow player is on board. Like me is sick of trolls. Thanks for this resource. One step at a time.
Wilcow. I don't know them.
Wilco. Jeff Tweedy.
Thanks!!!
They're one of my fave bands... playing in Seattle soon, and can't wait to her/see them, masks and all...!!
Even if I follow any step, I feel like a student uncertain whether or not asking for paid subscription just to elicit a circle of readers interested in what i am fond of..I have just begun..all right, I am not so deeply inside socials, I use Instag and Twitter sometimes..hate Facebook..so, I d like to import list from readers who are interested in art literature..i tried to build somthing around, however just reading in Substack I had disfficulties in getting the right community..well..
probably I should ..DARE..with free mind and light heart..thanks fot tips..
Lots to take in here. Really useful info, thanks!
I’m not so sure anymore. A paid subscriber disputed two payments because it said ‘Stripe’ on her bank statement and she didn’t recognise it.
The result, Substack charges me $15 per dispute along with £20 per dispute charged by Stripe.
This is Stripe’s error in billing but I have to foot a bill of almost $100.
Do I want more of that?
No.
Had a paid subscriber tonight and instantly turned off auto renewal.
Fabulous guidance, looking forward to gathering up my courage and putting this into action...Thanks, Substackers!
Is the founding member subscription a one-and-done option or does it occur yearly?
I’d also like to know this.
When I launch paid - Does Substack auto segregate my paid vs free lists? I don't see any details about this in the above post. I will be posting to my free and paid each week, but do not want the paid receiving the free content
If you have a subscriber who sent a pledge and following that you turned on the paid option, does this automatically turn the individual into a paid subscriber or should I give them a comp for a year? How will I receive the pledge? I read all the articles on pledges, but it is still not clear to me.